MP3 headphones recommendation — Philips SBC HS430

Philips SBC HS430 Headphones

I listen to my MP3 player loads when I’m walking/running/cooking/doing stuff around the house, and so I’ve had a lot of headphones. I’m always screwing them into a ball and stuffing them into a pocket, and eventually the little wires give up the ghost and I need to get new ones.

I don’t use the ‘ear bud’ type, partly because I find it difficult to keep them in my ears but mainly because I’m almost sure they’ve given me an ear infection in the past. I like the ones with a little clip that I can slip behind my ear. They stay on, and they’re comfy too as they have lovely soft padding. They’re probably less likely to make me deaf as well, though at this advanced stage I think it may be a little late to be thinking about that.

Anyway, my pair before last was a cheap set by Philips: the SBC HS430. They were only about £8 from (I think) Curry’s, but they’re some of the best I’ve ever had. They come with extra bass, and sound *much* better than many other, vastly more expensive sets I’ve used. I couldn’t get another set when they eventually wore out, but yesterday I needed some more and — lo and behold — they had them again at Curry’s :) They’re just as good as the first pair.

The only negative thing about them is that the end of the clip is a little sharp, and so after prolonged use (I mean in the order of 8 hours or so, when I’m walking) they can get a bit sore behind my ear. When that happens I just use one, and alternate from time to time. I suspect I could cure the problem fairly easily, though, by wrapping something around the end. Perhaps I’ll get round to it some day :) I’ve used several pairs with adjustable clips, btw, which do away with the ‘ear rub’ problem, but they didn’t sound nearly as good.

I’ve just been looking them up on the net and they don’t seem to be widely available, and so perhaps I’ll buy a spare pair in case Philips are doing away with them, in the rather peculiar way that manufacturers often seem to get rid of their best products.

Very highly recommended.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 12:33 pm and is filed under Kit, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Those are cheap enough to risk a purchase, but at that price I remain sceptical about the sonic quality until I’ve heard them!.
I’ve been just about managing with the iRiver T60 player I very unwisely bought since I published my scathing report about it a while back. I still haven’t seen a player with decent controls and a screen large enough to see the text (plus some other requirements).

They’re not wonderful in comparison with the sort of things one might use at home, of course, but I reckon they’re pretty impressive for a set of walking MP3 headphones. If you get some I’d be v. interested to know what you think. It may simply be the extra bass that makes them sound so good to me.

I’m off to your site now to look at the iRiver T60 report. I still use the little Creative MuVo players all the time, and love them, but they don’t have a large screen so prolly wouldn’t suit you. Having said that, it is large enough to read the text in a literal sense, but only just. Still, though, it only needs one AAA battery, which lasts a long time.